Plymouth's hopes of securing a state-of-the-art cruise terminal that would attract huge luxury liners and millions of international tourists could be dashed.

The council is carrying out a feasibility study into the risks attached to borrowing huge sums of cash for the mammoth project.

Civic leaders want to make sure there is significant demand in the cruise liner market for a huge expansion of Plymouth's docks and that the council would get all of its money back - and more.

But now there are concerns about the risks involved - and some at the top aren't confident financial experts will say the project is worth investing millions of pounds of taxpayers' cash in.

It's also understood that Associated British Ports - which owns the Millbay land identified for the deal - is still locked in discussions with Brittany Ferries over what adjustments would need to be made to the dock to accommodate huge cruise liners.

It comes despite the Tory administration having already set aside £5m of its capital budget towards the project - which the city anticipated would be complete by 2020 - as part of a grand £226m scheme to regenerate Plymouth.

Council leader Ian Bowyer (left) Labour boss Tudor Evans and Tory licensing official John Riley have spoken out about the plans

Tory councillor John Riley, said: "At the end of the day, it comes down to cost.

"We have got a study going on, determining whether it's worth us trying to get the money from somewhere, what we would need to borrow and if we would get the money back.

"I don't know what the outcome of that will be, but I suspect that it will be no.

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"I just think with regards to the cruise terminal - if only we could see that it would bring 10 cruise liners a year. But I am not sure.

"When cruise liners come over here, they go to different ports.

"If the supply could be guaranteed - in terms of the amount of cruise liners we could get to Plymouth - that may be something.

"But I am not confident the survey will say, "let the people of Plymouth go and get some money to pull it together."

The council has released an official statement in response saying money is still set aside in the capital programme for cruise facility investment.

The authority added that if the invested in facilities, it would not expect to get the money back, but it would have to be satisfied that the city as a whole would gain from this investment.

A feasibility study was carried out on the cruise market two years ago.

Looking back: How cruise liner deal looked certain less than two years ago

In March 2016, a deal to bring a cruise liner terminal to Plymouth was allegedly on the horizon, taking the city back to the "golden age" of welcoming luxury ships.

Councillor Tudor Evans, the leader of the council at the time, had revealed he hoped to have signed an agreement by the summer to build a terminal in Millbay, as the countdown continued to the Mayflower 400 celebrations in 2020.

Cllr Evans said the move would be an "immensely important thing" for Plymouth, and it is being backed by the business and tourism community.

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Cllr Evans told The Herald at the time: "The business case for a cruise liner terminal looks very encouraging, the European and British markets look to be growing and we can get a slice of that.

"It will mean the opportunity to receive ships in the heart of the city.

"Our vision is to return to the golden age of Millbay when cruise ships were disembarking regularly."

Brittany Ferries vessel in Plymouth (Image: Brittany Ferries)

That 'deal' between Cllr Evans' former Labour administration and Associated British Ports and Brittany was never signed due a breakdown in discussions.

But speaking yesterday about the deal, Cllr Evans said : "We still want it (the cruise terminal).

"There are issues around the size of the cruise liners that can come in.

"We can get about 90 per cent in at the moment, in terms of cruise liners, but some of the big ones, we can't accommodate."

Council leader: It's down to port officials to make things happen

The leader of the council says matters have been left in the hands of port bosses to resolve.

When asked whether the project was still on track to be complete by 2020, Councillor Ian Bowyer said: "That was the aspiration. Our position from a council perspective is, we don't any of the land around there, it's owned by Associated British Ports, and its principal customer is Brittany Ferries.